I am posting this one day late because yesterday – March 17th – was my best friends birthday and that was a much more important most than my eight month “anniversary” of being away. I am publishing this as I am boarding a plane with Ashley to London and then on to Venice which means by the time most of my friends read this I will already be in Venice 🙂

Eight months. Wow. This past month has flown by quicker than any other month. Seriously! It feels like just yesterday it was February 17th.

This past month I have worked more (yah!) and I started doing mini-day trips around Ireland. I traveled South to the Wicklow Mountains (Part I and Part II) and traveled North to Belfast (Part I and Part II). Perhaps the most important thing I accomplished this past month is that I decided what I want to do career-wise when I get home: I am going to become a teacher! As well, it marked the beginning of my Spring/Summer travels.

What stuck me most about this past month is that I realized: my time in Dublin is running out! I am not coming home until the end of July but in those 18ish weeks that I have left in Europe less than 5 of those weeks will actually be spent in Ireland. Even though this country is tiny there is so much I have yet to see which is what sparked my desire to start seeing more of the country.

As well, because the second half of my adventure is beginning I am starting to look forward to coming home and all that will bring. This year away has been my “gap year” – a year to think, relax and enjoy life and I have been doing just that. Most of what I hoped to accomplish this year has been happening. I wanted to travel a lot, to figure out what I wanted to do career-wise when I got home and I wanted to de-stress (still working on this one).

I am most excited for this month to come because I will be traveling for the ENTIRE month and it will be my birthday (oh my gosh, I don’t want to turn 24!). Many more posts to come as Ashley + I make our way through Italy and Greece. Bring on Month 9!